Paulywood

Thanks for the trip Mike, it was a lot of fun. I wiped out twice running for rods, had to be aggressive if you wanted a fish! The ride home sure was hard, I had to stop a few time and stretch my legs to help me stay awake. It was after 3 am before I made it home.

Harperman, I don't know about the saturday tourney but I have a spot open for next sunday. If you're interested just post here or PM. Talk to you later. Nick

I'm taking my girlfriend out saturday afernoon/evening. We will probably be going out of Muskegon or maybe Whitehall. Hopefully the fishies cooperate, my girlfriend hasn't been out yet this year.

Mike, Do you know where in the area these are being sold. I would like to pick up a couple. Nick

I have been told that they will kick you out of the Snug Harbor launch if they find you sleeping. The launch is actually seperate from the rest of the park. Fisherman's Landing is pretty cheap (Like $10 or $15 a night for tent sites). The tent sites are just a large open grassy area. They have very nice shower/bathroom areas. Last year we just setup camp in a big area and hung out together. I think that Caz slept in his truck. It worked out really well.

Mike, I know that there are 2 wrecks out of Muskegon that guys perch fish. I have the GPS coordinates somewhere, I'll try to find them. I would like to give perch fishing a try sometime this summer. I always liked catching jumbo perch. Nick

Congrats Rich. I also go to CMU so I will make sure to keep an eye on her so she doesn't get into trouble:D Hopefully noboby gives her one of those bottomless beers that her dad like so much.

Nice job! Glad to see some cold water back on our side of the lake. I plan on going out next week so hopefully it will still be there.

I was planning on prefishing that day anyway so count me in.

Good job on the fish Mike, sounds like June is here in full force.

I didn't go out but I thought that i'd post a report that I got from 2 of my coworkers. They fished friday morning and went 1/2, the fish they caught was a 2 1/2 lb. coho. Set up in 70' with a surface temp of 58 degrees. Fished out to 200' where the temp was 56 degrees. Found 43 degree water 70' down. They marked very few fish but most of them were around 115'. That's where they took the coho. The other hit was on a full core in the same depth.

Good report Mike, like the pics. I was wondering how you guys ended up. I was really surprised when that king took the GCW only 25' down but after reading your report I realized that it is a walleye-sized spoon, maybe that had something to do with it. I will have to file that away for future reference. I was surprised at how few boats there were out there. The launch was practically empty when we launched. There were more trailers there when we came back but I think that a lot of them were bass fishermen.

I go about 5-6 ft. If they are longer I just have the person reeling back up to the front of the boat. The charter we were on last year used long leaders (10+) on the dipsey's and just had us reel until we hit the dipsey and then back up, that way you can use longer leaders. It also works good when you have newbie fisherman, if they back up to the front of the boat they won't try to bend over and look at the fish when you go to net it, which equals FISH OFF. This is from experience.

I always have people use the compass, that's how I learned and it's easier to explain. I also think that it makes turning easier. My dad was out with me for the first time on Monday and when we had to turn I had him go 10 degrees, let everything straighten, then go 10 degrees more, etc, until the turn was completed. And we avoided tangles. I think that the compass is a lot easier for people to understand.

I also printed out labels at work and attached them above the reel.

I took 1 fish (our biggest) on a dipsey-spinny-fly combo Monday. That is the only fish I have taken this year but I'm running only flasher/fly combos on them. I thought that my flasher/fly program was real weak last year and I'm focused on improving it by running them every trip and tweaking the presentation.

Thanks Matt. Yeah, the boat is running fine now. I got it back on friday and waited until monday to take it out when I knew that there would be another boat in the area I knew in case I had trouble. I don't know when I will get out again (bachelor party and wedding the next 2 weeks) but I am thinking about heading north in June, maybe I'll get in touch if I head up to your area. Nick

Headed out of Muskegon Monday morning with my Dad. Thanks to the report from Lion Den last night we headed southwest and setup in 125'. Ran 6 rods: Downrigger 55' down 35' back w/ Moonshine Moonshine Downrigger 75' down 25' back w/ Hot Lobster Braid Dipsey on 3 175' back w/ Blue Bubble SD and White Fly Braid Dipsey on 3 225' back w/ Mountain Dew SD and Aqua Fly 7 color core w/ Glow Wartfrog Full core w/ NBK First hit on 7 color while setting lines, fought for a couple minutes then came off. 0/1 2nd hit on Rigger w/ Hot Lobster, while my Dad fought this fish the other rigger popped, landed both and they were each about 5 lbs. 2/3 Dad thought that the rigger w/ Hot Lobster bounced a couple times so I pulled it and found a shaker that was released. 3/4 Around 180' the 55' rigger w/ Mooshine spoon fired and we landed a 6 lb. king. 4/5 By this time we were out to 200' and decided to turn back in and run over the same area again. We were slightly north of the pier in 150' headed east when the Mountain Dew/Aqua dipsey went, 11 lb. king. 5/6 After landing that fish we had worked into 100' so we turned back southwest to run over the area we had taken fish earlier (Dad remembered the GPS coordinates, what a good wingman). I changed the 55' rigger out to a Mixed Veggie spoon because I thought that my spread was too glow heavy. Also pulled the Blue Bubble dipsey and put out a 3 color core w/ Double Orange Crush for steelies. Worked out to 140' and the rigger w/ Mixed Veggies fired and landed another 5 lber. 6/7 Full core w/ NBK went off in 180' w/ a 6 lb. king to finish our king limit at 7/8. Decided to pull everything high and try for steel. Pulled the 75' rigger to find another shaker that we released. 8/9 Put out a flat line and reset the rigger to 25' down 65' back w/ a Greasy Chicken Wing, 5 minutes later this rigger went off in 210' of water. Another king around 8 lbs. that we released at the side of the boat. 9/10 I didn't want to play catch and release w/ kings so I pulled everything but the flat line and 3 color and trolled in to 175' where we decided to call it a day. Neither of us had a watch and I forgot my phone but we figured it was around 11am or noon. We were surprised when we arrived at the launch and found out it was only 10am. All in all a great morning on the lake. I know that my report is long but I tried to include the WHY in my decision making. Good luck. Nick

Good job on the fish and thanks for the report. I am heading to Muskegon monday, always nice to hear good reports. Nick

I missed this post also. Sorry to hear about your back Caz. I've been there and know that it can be a long, painful ordeal. Hope you feel better soon. Nick

My boat is fixed, picking it up tomorrow, so I plan on going out, just don't know where yet. I might head to Muskegon monday. If I do I'll give you a shout Mike and Tim. I am thinking of trying Grand Haven or Holland on saturday. First i have to see if the weather will cooperate.

Matt, Hopefully I'll have the boat back by this weekend, but with gas going up I might take the weekend off.(Gasman told my GF that it was going to be $4 by the weekend) I will be fishing mostly out of Muskegon this year except for when I leave from work, then I fish farther south. (South Haven, Holland) But I'm always up for a road trip. We will definitely have to team up and slaughter the fishes sometime. I won't be able to go the first 2 weekends in June because of my friends bachelor party and wedding but will be out every chance I get after that. Nick

Nice job, Matt. Sounds like you had a better time than I did.

Left early from work today with 2 of my co-workers and headed to Holland. Left the pier heads at 5:30 to find a beautiful flat, calm morning. Powered up to 30 mph and headed northwest. After about 1/2 a mile the motor revved high and the boat stopped going forward. End of our day. Luckily the only other boat out there was kind enough to tow us in. Hopefully I got his name right, Cabbott Sterk, gave up his morning of fishing and pulled us back to the dock. And he wouldn't even accept any money. Can't say how much I appreciate his help. Pulled the boat out and checked the gear lube in the lower unit to find it full of metal shavings. Dropped the boat off and received the diagnosis this afternoon. Lower seals and water pump need to be replaced plus gear kits for both the upper and lower. The parts are ordered and after a mere $1500 hopefully I'll be back on the water by next weekend. Final score: 0 fish 1 broken outdrive 3 very unhappy fisherman Good luck to everyone who gets out this weekend. I'm going to go sell plasma to help pay for my boat repairs:D Thanks again Cabbott if you read this!

I fished with Red Eagle (Mike) out of Grand Haven this morning, going 3/4. Launched at 6 am and pulled the boat at noon, Mike had to be home for Mother's Day. Set up in 50' of water in front of pier heads and trolled around the plume for an hour with nothing going. Headed out NW and took our first hit at 80' on a slide diver 25' down with a Green/Yellow Pro King. Got off when it ran at the boat. Headed out deeper and hooked up with a nice king on a 7 color w/ Jr. Silver Streak Blueberry Muffin. 1 in the box. That fish came on the inside of a turn as we headed in toward shore. Trolled in to 55' and I started to pull my full core when a slide diver went off. Small steelhead on a blue/orange Pro King 20' down. Started pulling lines to head in and found a small straggler on the downrigger. Blue Bubble spoon 35 down, best estimate is that he was on there for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Nice day for a boat ride. Heard reports of guys hitting fish saturday in 190' but we didn't venture that far. Everyone we talked to struggled. Marked lots of fish but they were scattered. Plan on fishing all this weekend if the weather cooperates.